London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Most viewers of Arabic-language news portals in the region are in Saudi Arabia, while the majority of Arabic-speaking users from outside the Arab world live in the United States. Moreover, the gender gap persists with all portals reporting that most of their viewers are males, according to a report by the Arab Advisors Group.

the 33-page report titled “Arabic Online Portals Featuring News Content” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Media Strategic Research Service at the start of the month, and focuses on selected portals that are all regional in their outlook and include major satellite news channel websites, business and financial news portals, and general websites featuring Arabic news. These portals are: Al Arabiya’s news portal, Al Bawaba, AME Info, CNN Arabic, Maktoob, Menafn, Mena Report, Middle East Online and MSN Arabia. The report also features demographic information for Al Jazeera’s news portal.

“Analyzing the demographic breakdowns of the web portals’ visitors, it appears that most users in the Arab world are in Saudi Arabia, while many Arabic-speaking users from outside the region live in the United States. Additionally, males consistently outnumber females as viewers of Arabic news on the web,” Arab Advisors Group’s media analysts wrote in the report.